Chris Craiker, Architex Angle: How 2021 remodeling will swap new home construction

a focus on Saving Water

Xeriscape landscape with grey water.

Photos by Shawn Paul Lucien

The recent 51st Earth Day should be a big reminder of how essential and precious water is as one of our most essential natural resources. Our awareness of water management grows while historic chronic California droughts require a new focus on conservation.

Sonoma, in response to the pending drought, elected to inflate what has become an annual event: a rubber dam across the Russian River to collect water and dispense to various county reservoirs. That’s one solution to a crisis.

CHRIS CRAIKER Ba I y n January, our Nor was expected to ha th ve normal rainfall. But the low 2020-2021 rainfall total was recorded at 11.32 inches, or 31% of our average 37.01 inches, the second lowest rainfall recorded since 1893.

At the same time, per capita water

CHRIS CRAIKER

consumption is increasing. Water and sewer rates have increased dramatically over the last decade (100–400%); and new water supply options are too costly or altogether unavailable. Some good news: our sanitary discharges are down 40% over the decade. Woo, woo!

The Napa Valley Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) is a task force of local water managers using a federal grant to assist local agencies for the second drought in two years. Napa County has been extremely lucky that our local reservoirs, while low, are not requiring significant reductions in our personal water usage. But that is inevitably going to change.

Voluntary reductions from previous summer uses are suggested at 15% by reducing yard watering, avoiding over-spraying, and employing hand-watering and drip irrigation opposed to water-guzzling sprinklers. These are not mandatory....not yet. Clearly, we need to find simple ways of reducing our water usage as new and existing water resources are becoming increasingly scarce throughout the North Bay.

As a practicing architect in Marin in the ‘70s, I experienced extreme droughts for years. The mandatory requirements were harsh but essential. Emergency pipelines across the San Rafael/Richmond Bridge help, and even Native/American rain dancers were employed. Nobody could water their lawns or gardens, showers were severely limited, heavy fines were levied if you exceeded your rationed amount, swimming pools went empty and dishes never looked clean. Neighbors sometimes hitched hoses to their next door neighbors sources, like stealing internet today.

Nowadays we are better prepared. Water-saving has become ubiquitous, but we need to do more. In addition, there is the increasing recognition of both water and energy savings by implementing water saving initiatives. Builders and professionals must do a better job at conserving water, especially during construction. We generally think of water efficiency as low flow fixtures and high

Gray water recycling

CHRIS CRAIKER

Xeriscape landscape with grey water.

Xeriscape landscape with grey water.

efficacy appliances, but the initial construction of a house requires significant site cleaning, dust reduction and water for mortar and concrete. Efficiency should start with the first shovel in the ground.

Our future water conservation strategy must include aggressive system optimization, more efficient water systems design, water reuse / recycling, leak detection, repair and replacement of failing systems. We can all learn and be a part of the solution.

Chris d Craiker, AIA/NCARB, lived on a Sausalito houseboat in ‘70s and often windsurfed to work in Mill Valley. It would take two hours and a lot of falls.

One overlooked conservation measure is recycling gray water, which is now legal.

In droughts and even normal daily use, gray water is a good step forward when done right.

The California Health and Safety code allows untreated waste water that has not been contaminated by toilet discharge or infectious body waste, to be released into yard areas.

More than half of the water used in sinks, showe r s, d i shwashe r s and washing m ach in es i s considered gray water. Obviously, we can’t recycle toilet flushes, but re-using your internal water waste eases the burden on local treatment plants and potentially reduce municipal water expenGreenSmart ditures. Any Gray Water household can Diverter I install fixtures for gray water d i st ri but i o n without a permit.

Gray water must be released above ground surfaces and into rock, soil or other solid shields to cover the release point. Ponding or tank storage is not allowed. To see how easy it is, check out: youtube.com/watch?v=xe-15ziDX5A

A new device has been certified for residential gray water use is now available that makes it easy to recycle household waters into the yard for irrigation or back into the sewer system.

GreenSmart Sustainable Concept’s wireless remote-control gray water diverter. See “First UPC-Certified

Graywater Diverter for Residential

Use Now Available,” Builder Magazine (builderonline.com).